


help, unrequested & unexpected

by goldtracing



Series: the future is a fickle thing, so is the past [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Arguing, Father-Daughter Relationship, Kidnapping, Scheming
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:14:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23512183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldtracing/pseuds/goldtracing
Summary: He had always wanted to get to know his daughter the second he learned of her existence. Sharp-tongued and temperamental as she is, he can’t help but marvel at her sharp mind, especially when an argument takes the turn for the better
Relationships: Leia Organa & Darth Vader
Series: the future is a fickle thing, so is the past [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815403
Comments: 3
Kudos: 79





	help, unrequested & unexpected

_ “Where do we find allies?" _  
_ Father Yarvi smiled. "Among our enemies, where else?”  _  
_ [―  Joe Abercrombie,  Half the World] _

Even if it weren’t for the distaste unrelentingly permeating the Force, the expression of utter fury gracing Leia’s face was more than enough to tell his daughter’s feelings for him. She kept casting him dark looks from where she sat on the couch, thinking that he didn’t notice it. Meanwhile, the narrowed eyes and sneer were reflected in the viewport in front of him.

At least she had stopped throwing everything and anything that wasn’t screwed tight. All projectile that she had deemed worthy of assaulting him with were piled up messily in the corner to where he had reflected them with ease.

“I see you have come to sense and ceased your childish tantrum”, he remarked, the deep brass of the vocoder disrupting the silence.

That earned him a hard glare and the former princess adjusted her posture that she has sitting ramrod straight. She countered: “It wouldn’t have even come so far if you showed some decency, Lord Vader.”

Insults like that were doing little to sooth his raw nerves and even made his anger spike briefly. Gripping the controls of the Lambada shuttle tighter so that the leather of his gloves creaked. While he knew that teenagers on the verge of adult hood were moody and completely unbearable, this was something else entirely. If he didn’t loath the mere memory of one Obi-Wan Kenobi so much, then he would pity the late Jedi Master.

“You’d be advised to take your own words to heart before you say such things to me”, he replied. Vader plunged the lever and the stars elongated to white-blue lines as they enter hyperspace. With one sweeping movement he rose out of the pilot’s seat and stalked towards his wayward child. Cautious of her fiery temper and not wanting to worsen the shattered relationship they had, he elected to stand a few metres away from her.

Her eyes tracked his every movement as if he were some predatory that was about to pounce on her and tear her to pieces. Given her past experiences with him the mindset was warranted, sadly.

“I seriously don’t see why my reaction wasn’t due to common sense. You tactlessly told me that you are my sire, nearly butchered my friends and dragged me to this shuttle even though I repeatedly told you that I want nothing to do with you”, she snapped, arms crossed over the khaki fatigues that she was wearing.

Her proclaimed mimic her distancing body language. As overjoyed as he was to have his beloved child in his grasp, her vehement rejection stung. Tilting the mask slightly forward he questioned: “Oh, and how will your so-called friends take the news that I am your father? The Rebellion sure wouldn’t welcome you back warmly once the news reaches them, or will they?”

“My friends now that I am more than just my biological linage. The sins of the father are not the sins of the daughter. Besides, my loyalty to the good cause is unwavering and undoubted so I have nothing to fear”, she elaborated, through inwardly she had her doubts. Luke had always idolized his deceased father and vowed to avenge his untimely death. How couldn’t he dislike her for having the blood of a Jedi killer in her veins?

Vader snorted, the action tearing at his damaged vocal cords. Luckily the vocoder didn’t catch the sound. Hooking his thumbs in his belt he pointed out:

“Just like few people are gifted with the Force, few people possess rational thought and the clarity logic grants. I wouldn’t bet that they’ll regard you with anything but fear and mistrust.” 

“Wouldn’t that accusation fit the Empire better that you help uphold?”, she asked coolly, chin jutted forward like a regal queen.

Behind the lenses of his mask he rolled his eyes. Over the course of two decades and had repeatedly heard the same rudimentary arguments on why the system he served was worse than the Republic. Slowly, nobody was coming up with anything original these days.

“You are dodging the subject. The point is that you can never go back to the Rebellion. They wouldn’t take you back and even if there was a chance then I wouldn’t allow it”, he drawled lazily, revelling in the triumph the situation.

The fine face contorted in rage and even if the clinical red of his optic lenses didn’t let him see the colour clearly, he was aware of how porcelain cheeks started to flush due to indignity.

“Oh, thank you for slandering my image, it was just what I needed. Not to mention that I just wished from the bottom of my heart for the biological father that I never missed to make himself known!”, she snapped at him, slowly rising from the black sofa to her full height. As if she could intimidate him; Leia was even shorter than her mother.

Sharp words that cut into flesh, and it provoked his anger even further. Pointing a threatening finger at her he thundered: “Watch your mouth, girl. While I did detest the Organas I thought they were clever enough to teach you some basic manners and respect. It seems like I was mistaken, and they neglected some fundamental parental duties!” 

“As if you’d be a better parent!”, she yelled back at him. “Which parent would torture their own child? Which parent would stand aside when their child’s planet is destroyed? Which parent would hunt down their child like game?”

Each sentence struck like the blow of a lightsabre, borrowed deep in his flesh like some sort of parasite, making countless doubts arise that would fester and poison his mind. Around him, the Force started to saturate with his anger and the Dark-Side whisper persuasively:

_Strike her down. Kill her. Torture her. Be rid of this nuisance. Die, die, die._

He suppressed it like he hadn’t done in years once images of that fateful day on Mustafar began to dance in his minds eye. How ever that didn’t mean his fury was eradicated.

The whole ship started to shake violently as if in an earthquake and Vader took a few menacing steps forward until he was towering over Leia.

“All of this could have been avoided. You only have yourself to blame for this princess, for your Rebellion, for your defiance, for plunging the galaxy in chao when I worked so hard to bring order to it. And everybody else that was or is involved in this conspiracy to prevent the truth from reaching me. They failed and you’d do well to accept the circumstances.”

Finally, the girl grasped the reality of her situation and fear shone in her eyes as she shrank back. Through her face was largely a mask of muted anger, he could see how her eyes widened fractionally and her feelings of helplessness permeated the Force.

Not waiting for another word he swept around, cape nipping at his heels as he marched back to the pilots seat and settled down, least he do something he’d regret later. Anybody else would have suffered severely for showing him such shameless audacity.

Vader wouldn’t admit aloud as to how close he had been to murdering his only child.

Leia looked so much like Padme that it was painful. Just as full of hopeless dreams of an everlasting utopia that was the Republic, her ideals would soon crush her like they had her once upon a time. Order had to be installed through unwavering power and an iron fist, repeated hammer strikes to mould the galaxy into perfect shape.

Staring out into the hypnotic swirls of hyperspace he felt himself calm down until the oxygen continuously pushed in and out of his damaged lungs no longer was entirely forced and his rage simmered down back to its usual levels.

“When injustice becomes justice then disobedience becomes obligation”, she piped up from her place.

Turning his head to the side and stared at her intently, not saying a word as he watched her doing her best to present courage. It was a veneer, apparent by how the Force quivered around her and her muscles remained taunt. From fear she drew her anger and that gave her the determination to stand up to him. His daughter was a very interesting person indeed.

Still it was rich of her to talk about justice and injustice as if she’d seen the whole galaxy and empathized with their suffering. She was barely an adult and idealistic to the point of dogma. He’d be sure to stamp out her flimsy definitions of right and wrong now that she was in his care.

“You have never suffered true injustice so don’t be so self-righteous. The Republic was rotten to the core and it’s corruption and ignorance caused it to turn a blind eye to the tyranny committed under democracy”, he said, pulling up the navigation system to check their route.

With still two hours ahead racing up the Corellian trading spine along with a few micro jumps there was still enough time to sway her to see matters from his point of view, or too much time to have to endure her jabs and stubbornness.

“You can’t say that what you’re doing is moral. There is no honour in killing people”, she attempted, sliding forward in her seat. She was persistent in keeping up this moral debate.

“And yet you do the same. The end justifies the means.”

“At least I’m not at the beck and call of some tyrant whose endgame is oppression and subjugation, like a lap dog”, she snipped back.

Due to have to hunt down the Rebel princess for months he had forgotten that she had once been a senator and a very outspoken one too. Then he had found her irritating, an insect that buzzed to loud in her ears. He had made it a point of evading her because the reminded to much of Anakin Skywalker’s past. The Emperor had found her entertaining, like one would an enemy that had no chance of obtaining victory but still fought viciously.

Now she had driven a knife to far in and lacerated his threadbare patience.

He stormed at her, the Dark-side whirling around him, wild and seething. The terrified expression she granted him fuelled his emotions as he bared down on her and roughly grabbed her by the front of her jacket.

“Watch your tongue. As your father, I demand respect, respect that you’ll soon learn to grant me. I told you before that we shall overthrow the Emperor. I’ve wanted that way for two decades. Not the move of a mere dog, now is it?”, he snarled at her, tugging her close.

Panting, she gripped his hands where he had grabbed her in order to pull her closer. Moments past, time where he practically saw thoughts racing in her mind as she feverishly worked at a plausible answer. The answer she pressed out didn’t pacify him:

“Sure a long time to harbour thoughts of a coup. Why don’t you do it yourself?”

Idiotic of Leia that she thought that she could fool him. Dread seeped through her shields, noxious in the way it clashed with her anger, both amplifying and dulling it and weaving into the workings of her mind.

The vocoder caught his hiss of displeasure and warbled it into an ugly sound as he dropped his daughter back on the couch and peered down at her.

“He has always expected this. It is how the Sith operate. The apprentice kills the master once former has no use for the latter”, he clarified, intently awaiting her reaction.

Cocking her head to the side in curiosity she probed further: “Does he still have many lessons to teach you?”

That made him pause as he dug through memories, recollections that seared him.

Despite all vows and promises of power, Sidious had done little to fulfil them. All those sweet alluring words, coercing him to bow to another Master’s will, assurances of great power through joining the Sith only to be on a leash, only for everything he loved to turn to ash. As Vader he had been lost, without compensation in form of knowledge or comfort, only redirected wrath that caused blood to water the soil of a thousand different planets. Everything he knew in arcane knowledge of the Dark-Side he had had to scrape together. Her mused:

“No, he never bothered to teach me anything after he had secured by loyalty. After all that happened, he was the only thing I had left.”

“Then he makes as bad a mentor as you do a student”, Leia concluded.

Just as he never had been a perfect Jedi and wasn’t fit to be an actual Sith. Neither suppressing his feelings nor throwing away his compassion were suitable solutions for him.

“The Emperor is stronger than all your pathetic sources tell you. There is a reason that none of the Jedi that attempted to assassinate him succeeded and that is because is one of the most powerful Sith Lords the galaxy has ever seen, so perfectly in control of the Dark-Side due to his sadistic nature. I can’t take him down alone in a direct confrontation”, he validated his actions.

His daughter tapped her nose in consideration as she digested his words. Then she inquired: “How did he kill his own master?”

“He always told me that he killed him in his sleep”, Vader replied slowly, not quite sure where this conversation was heading.

The Force whirled around her excitedly once he said that and she was quick to highlight:

“See! If the rule doesn’t state a specific way to kill the master, then the apprentice can deploy any means necessary. You could sabotage his ship to make it blow up in hyperspace, you could throw him down the stairs so that he breaks his neck, you make him choke on his own food, you could use the Force to make his heart stand still… Force, the possibilities are endless!”

At some of her suggestions he almost snorted. Really, his master wasn’t stupid. In the past he had seen through countless assassination attempts with an accuracy that was frightening. The Empire existed to serve him and like a parasite he sucked the life out of it, fed on the fear of the people, drained hope until he ruled supreme. Like a parasite, he would immediately be aware if there was something wrong with his host, in the way if the latter was planning to discontinue its servitude in the most minuscule manner.

“You forget, there have been countless attempts on his life before, many more than he’d ever admit and he survived they all relatively unscathed”, he reminded her.

The following punishments had been carefully crafted, specifically tailored to make the unlucky culprit to suffer to the fullest extent of the Sith Lord’s genius. Darth Sidious dealt with failure similarly – as his student Vader knew that best.

Yet the former princess remained unperturbed in her hair-brained schemes and countered swiftly, standing up and placing her hands on her hips in an authoritarian manner: “And you were there to protect him all the time, or not?”

“Yes, until I realised you exist all I had was him”, he confirmed. And now Leia was all he ever would need, she had given him a new purpose in life. Leia Organa was his, his daughter, his wayward offspring. All of his loved ones had forsaken and betrayed him – his mother, dead before he could save her; Ahsoka, Obi-Wan and Padme, the ones that he had wrongly trusted. Palpatine… no, that had only been ever deceit and manipulation on the one side and blind faith on the other. Leia would one day learn to love and except him, he would ensure that.

“Then he has gone long enough without protecting himself.”

“Child, you don’t comprehend his power. You’d be crushed if you attempt such a foolish endeavour without being trained and my aid”, he dismissed her thoughts.

The woman sneered at what he called her but still didn’t deviate from the matter at hand. Without hesitation she pointed out: “What I’m saying is that while being supreme ruler of the galaxy, he has become complacent because he hasn’t had a challenge. Building up his Empire and manipulating himself up the political hierarchy before that had been an effort. Now he doesn’t have to worry about such things and has begun to stagnate. Hubris can also lead to downfall.”

Shaking his head and crossing his arms again he said: “You make it sound so easy, young one. It wouldn’t. He is constantly on his guard.

“Simple plots are the best. By a complicated plan he can easily thwart the assailants by tripping them up. The simpler the plot that harder it will be for him to detect it and it can be made even more effective by making the assassination consistent and wholly integrated and ordinary events so that he can’t sense if something is amiss”, she explained, full of conviction and self-assurance. His child even looked proud of herself.

Then she added: “All in all, I think we do have a chance at succeeding.”

His heart fluttered at that one word and he couldn’t believe his ears. While he shouldn’t be pushing his luck he nonetheless questioned: “We?”

Only then did she seem to comprehend what she had really said. Brown eyes narrowed and lips thinned as she regarded him.

“If you think I’ll give you what you want then you’re wrong. I hate you – I hate you for what you did to my people, for what you did to my friends and for what you did to me. No matter what you do, I wouldn’t forgive, and I wouldn’t forget. The only reason I’m doing this is because me have a common enemy. The enemy of my enemy is my friend”, she crushed his hopes. One day, he would make her eat those bold words of hers.

So when she held out her hand, he gave it a firm shake.

**Author's Note:**

> While reading some many Star Wars fanfics I always myself why Vader always would see a direct confrontation with a lightsabre duel as the only way to be rid of his Master. There isn't actually any rules stating he can't kill Sidious as he pleases.
> 
> Fire away with feedback and questions in the comment section!


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